Chapter Ten
Hellboy raised the samaritan smoothly and fired, straight between Orcus' eyes. The smoke from the barrel cleared and he was only mildly surprised to see Orcus rubbing his forehead with a frown.
"I'll take that as a 'no' then." He smiled, that same calm smile that was really really starting to get on Hellboys nerves before raising a hand, fast as lightening. Hellboy only just managed to duck out of the way of a bolt of something yellow and hot, he watched it zip past his face – bent back at a near 90 degree angle – before straightening out in time to see Abe tackling him from the side.
"This is really most annoying!" Orcus snapped, throwing off the amphibian and snapping his fingers. "Cerebus!" The ground rumbled and somehow the shadows behind Orcus got deeper all of a sudden, two red slits appeared in the shadows far over Orcus' head swiftly followed by four more.
"Oh crap." Hellboy looked up, then up again as a ginormous dog with three great heads stepped from the shadows. At least as tall as a two storey building it bared teeth a good foot long down at Hellboy. "Fetch?" He suggested. The Samaritan jerked in his hand as common sense told him to shoot it and his memory reminded him of the dog he'd had as a kid. "Damn." He took a couple of steps back as one massive paw stepped forward, three heads snarling down at him – a chair appeared out of nowhere, knocking the side of one of the dogs heads and causing it to turn, still growling, at Abe who looked suddenly very small and snack sized indeed.
"Oh dear." He murmured as the creature turned towards him. Abe did what anyone with half a brain cell would do – that being turned and ran like hell. The creature lumbered after him, it's barks reverberating off the walls and nearly deafening out the sudden cry that came from the tower.
"Liz!" Hellboy turned to the tower and took off towards it.
"Her water broke five minutes ago!" Meg yelled, leaning out of a window before disappearing again.
"Dernaia Uora!" Orcus yelled, copying much the same gesture that Meg had used to raise the Lost Library, the ground shook and split, a vast crevase opening beneath Hellboys feet forcing him to choose a side, teetering on the edge, waving his arms as he felt the pull of the depth opening infront of him – effectively cutting him off from the ivory tower - before he regained his balance and looked down into the new abyss. Behind him and some way away Abe was heading back to the Styx, Cerebus bounding after him with a depressing amount of speed bulldozing the heavy wrought iron gates with a powerful shoulder. Without a second thought Abe dived gracefully into the Styx and was instantly surrounded by souls who stared at him with hollow eyes and gaping mouths, each one latching onto him hungrily as he tried to swim through them. Cerebus followed, wading in and yelping in surprise as the water deepened beneath him sharply, the souls seeming to cling harder to him than to Abe. The amphibian swam past Cerebus – gracefully dodging a snap of huge teeth – feeling his arms grow heavier and more leaden by the second as he was dragged down by the depressing grey beings. On the edge of the precipice Hellboy teetered, looking down into the darkness as something within moved and uncurled from its feotal position.
"Oooh we're in trouble…why is it always giant squidy things?" Hellboy muttered as the Hydra unfolded itself from the Earth, head brushing the cavern ceiling as one massive claw dug into the edge of the cliff, hauling itself up and out of the precapice.
"It's the Hydra!" Abe yelled with the last of his breath, arms flailing with uncharacteristic futility, "cover your mouth!" Hellboy frowned, looking in the direction of his friends flailing arms before turning back to the hydra, covering his mouth with the thick leather of his sleeve just as the thing opened one of its nine mouths and breathed on him. Green fog curled engulfed him – even above the smell of the leather and his own sweat the toxic breath threatened to swamp his senses. It cleared eventually, leaving him in comparatively alone and looking up at the serpentine thing, without thinking about it Hellboy raised the gun and fired, blowing off three of the nine, ugly, heads in succession.
"You don't read much, do you?" Orcus said from beside him, hands clasped behind his back as if he was taking a leasurely stroll, nodding his head towards the hydra. Hellboy turned to look as the creature rose, pulling itself to its two clawed feet and dragging bloodied stumps across the ground before swinging them up into the air, splattering Hellboy with sticky green blood before nine more heads grew out of the three stumps, struggling and rearing their way to life. "You can't kill it. Just as you can't kill me." Orcus smiled pleasently – Hellboy would have sold his soul to be able to wipe away that smile at that moment. The so called God of the Dead disappeared in a grey haze as Krauss – outside of his suit, a cloud of mist in a vauge human shape, held together by pure will only.
"Actually, he was incorrect. The hydra can be killed -" The German explained calmly, stepping back as one of the heads snapped at Hellboy – who ducked and rolled sideways. "-by cutting off its heads and burning the stumps."
"Nice. Damn. Go help Abe!" Hellboy ordered, having caught sight of his friend slowly sinking out of the corner of his eye.
"Here!" Krauss threw a flare at him before opening the valve on his suit and seeping out. Hellboy grinned, cracking the flare and drawing the Samaritan as he ran towards the hydra. It was getting hard to breathe in the Styx, it was water but it was…souls, spirits passing through his gills and sucking out his life even as he drew it in. Abe made a last ditch attempt for the silver-gray shore, long muscular arms and graceful webbed fingers pulling his suddenly incredibly heavy weight. He was surprised almost out of himself when his fingertips scraped against wet sand and lifted his head to see the shore, right there in front of him. Hope gave him the strength to haul himself onto almost dry land, sluicing off ghostly fingers and faces that would haunt his dreams for a few years to come before laying back in the sand, catching his breath and closing his eyes briefly, totally ignoring the sound of combat behind him as he willed his strength back into his limbs. Something wet and distressingly sticky splashed onto his chest, causing him to open his eyes and look up into a matching trio of angry teeth.
"Hm." He murmured to himself, barely noticing the waters of the Styx and the souls that were still caught up in the ferocious animals matted fur. Flipping his legs over his head in a backwards roll, Abe just missed being the dogs supper as three heads tried to strike one spot at the same time. He ended underneath Cerebus's huge body, trying not to breath in the stench of wet dog and crouched almost to the ground, skittering from side to side in order to stay out of reach and uncrushed by the massive wieght.
"Right behind you, Agent Sapien." Krauss said, out of habit more than anything else, as he approached. The white mist floated up towards the three headed dogs face, easily avoiding the teeth that snapped at him and sank into one of the creatures skulls. Abe flattened himself down as much as possible as depressingly blunt teeth snapped inches away from his face, flailing him with stringy, stinking mucus and bad breath…Abe couldn't work out if he prefered the Styx to giant dog slobber or not. Cerebus whined, snapping and barking at itself as it reared back, heads shaking like it was trying to dislodge a fly from one of its six ears. Abe knew when Krauss had a hold on the thing because the colours of its eyes went from dark chocolatey brown to pale blue.
"Take your time." He murmured, standing up and shaking off the concoction of wet silver sand and clinging water off his limbs. He looked up to find he was talking to thin air – where as Cerebus on his own had moved with menacing grace with Krauss in charge of his cortex Cerebus had bounded across the place like a puppy, all ears and tongue and wagging tail.
"She's pretty far along if you want to speed things up!" Meg's desperate voice came from the tower window. "I can see a head!"
"I'm coming for you, Liz!" Hellboy yelled over the blast of his gun as he took off another of the Hydra's heads, thrusting the hand that held the flare deep into the hot, wet, ragged stump that was left over, ignoring the slurping cling of dying flesh as it seared shut around the heat before ducking the long almost swan like-neck of another. Teeth sank into his calf, causing him to jerk his hand back and nearly loose the flare in putrid flesh. He shot at the head that was currently trying its best to rip him apart, severing it but not removing it from his leg before searing the flesh of that stump. He reared back, his free hand flailing, expecting another attack from a head only to find himself surrounded by a sphaggetti of smoking flesh and scales. "Anyone else?" He yelled, mild hysteria and triumph colouring his voice. He levelled the gun at Cerebus as the three headed dog trotted over, tongues lolling out of panting mouths.
"Well I was going to offer a hand but you seem to have everything under control." Three jaws moved awkwardly around the Germans accent and Krauss sat his canine self down, turning to look over his shoulder with one head as Abe walked over. The white mist that was the German floated out, leaving Cerebus serene and…happy. Hellboy shot the dog a look of distrust before proffering the leg that the Hydra's head was still latched onto.
"Abe, could you…?"
"Oh certainly." Abe dropped to his knees, his tone waspish, "never mind that I nearly drowned for the first time in my life." He muttered to himself, using the small hunting dagger he kept strapped to his calf to prise open the Hydra's locked jaws, releasing a fresh torrent of red blood from Hellboys leg. Hellboy winced briefly, his body turned towards the tower as Liz's yells and screams trailed off, leaving a ringing silence broken only by the sigh of the Styx.
"Liz?" He whispered, his voice choked off by fear. Had something gone wrong? Had Orcus – who'd disappeared some time during the fight – killed her? "Liz!" He bellowed, taking off towards the tower, ignoring the pain and blood flowing down his leg and leaving Abe to juggle the severed head for a minute. His hand was on the door handle when it swung open, revealing Meg, wide eyed, slightly singed and very bloodied. Hellboys heart nearly stopped at the sight of the blood that drenched her hands up to her wrists as she reached out to him.
"Some of it's mine." She said quietly, her expression caught between worry, amusement and fear. "I got a bit, uh, singed."
"Is Liz-"
"She's fine. I think You don't want to go up there just yet. Trust me." Meg said, removing her blood stained hand from his chest. She looked up as he grabbed her shoulders, barely restraining himself from shaking her. "Everythings fine. Sort of. Well…I don't know. The babies are here and both them and their ma seem to be fine but -"
"Where's Orcus?"
"Up there, don't worry, he can't get to the babies, Persephone- I mean, Liz has them and she's all…flamey-"
"So we've killed the evil creatures, all that's left now is to kill Orcus and reverse Liz's memory." Krauss said, seeping back into his suit slowly, filling it enough to be able to walk over to them.
"That's great. Except we've got a brand new, exhausted Mother – on fire by the way, did I mention that? Should I use a fire extinguisher or will she sort herself? - who still thinks she's the Goddess of Life and Death up there, she's confused, very tired and very, very cranky and the only comfort she has is some weird ass wizard who thinks he's the God of the Dead." Meg snapped, pushing her sweaty fringe off her face, baring her singed sleeves briefly. "Any ideas at this point to keep her from being distressed are good ones."
"Here." Abe, looking exhausted as he walked over, handed over one of the golden goblets that had miraculously survived the fight.
"What-"
"Trust us." Johann said quietly. Meg shot him a look that the others couldn't interpret, before giving Hellboy a questioning glance as she took the goblet before turning and starting up the winding stairwell once more. Hellboy managed to last a full five seconds before he took off after her, taking the stairs three at a time in order to catch up, not bothering to use the golden handrail. The door at the top was slightly ajar and Hellboy barged straight in, pausing on the threshold to see Liz amidst a bevvy of bloodied sheets, nose wrinkled as she drank deeply from the goblet, two tiny bundles on the sheets before her. Orcus stood at the foot of the bed, backing away from the bloodied and torn demon as he entered the room. Hellboy was unaware of him and of Meg watching him with wide eyes as he moved over to the bed, standing over his lover…or at least, the woman who had been his lover..
"Liz?" He breathed, hope and fear squeezing at his heart. She pulled a face, handing the goblet back to Meg before turning to him, her expression blank before her eyes slid to Orcus' and she smiled. That smile…Hellboy felt his heart sink to the floor, a well of despair opening up as he fell heavily to his knees, watching as she rose from the bed, moving gracefully through her pain, her arms open as she reached towards the evil mage. "Liz…no…" Hellboy heard himself whisper, his vision blurry for a reason that he couldn't work out until he swiped a hand over his eyes, wiping away sweat and tears. "…please…"